“Dick Figures The Movie” Free on YouTube

Unlike traditional Hollywood films which put all their emphasis on opening weekend at the theatrical box office followed by DVDs/Blurays and finally digital download/rental/streaming, we decided to release it online, worldwide, from day one. In an effort to distribute the movie to the widest audience possible, we also made it available on YouTube for free in a pioneering “chaptered” approach.

Most people thought we were crazy to offer the movie for free, but instead of detracting it has actually boosted our sales tremendously. Plus, we receive revenue from the ad-supported chapters on YouTube which also act as weekly commercials for the sale of DFTM.

The numbers don’t lie: within the first 48 hours of the movie’s release Chapters 1 and 2 had been seen by half a million people on YouTube, and it was #2 on GooglePlay and YouTube Movies (only beaten by “This Is The End”), and #16 overall on iTunes (but Top 10 in Independent, Action, and Comedy).